A Man & His Cat, book 8, by Umi Sakurai. Square Enix Co Ltd.

In volume 8, we finally meet Mr. Kanda’s two children, both grown up (or almost grown up; I never did figure out their exact ages) and home for a visit- not realizing that their father has houseguests now, both human and feline. With his own cat, his cat’s sister, and the box full of kittens, the house is full. These kids had never had a pet growing up, so the cats presence is a huge surprise. And an unwelcome one for his son, who is both afraid of cats, and hates them. We get to see him heal from the childhood wounds that caused this, along with seeing the joy of family, both blood and found. Five stars, as usual.

 

A Man & His Cat, book 7, by Umi Sakurai. Square Enix Co Ltd.

Box full of kittens!

This is pretty much how the book starts, with a famous pianist coming to see Mr. Kanda and finding a box of abandoned kittens on the way. Despite having been brought up with no animals, and not being allowed to interact with them even momentarily, he can’t leave them to die in the rainstorm. So he shows up at Kanda’s door with five little kittens in his arms…

The book isn’t entirely kittens, though. The serious thread in this one is about how a person’s upbringing can shut them off from having friends. How even though a parent thinks they are doing the best thing for their child, it can have unpleasant consequences. And how parents and children should take a chance and actually talk things out.

I probably enjoyed this book more than any except the first volume. I mean, boxful of kittens!

 

A Man & His Cat, book 6, by Umi Sakurai. Square Enix Co Ltd.

The sixth volume of A Man & His Cat finds Mr. Kanda cat sitting Fukumaru’s littermate while her owner, Hibino, is on a concert tour. Hibino is, of course, Kanda’s old competitor, but their cats have brought them together. There are many vignettes of Fukumaru and Marin, playing and eating together, with Fukumara dealing with some jealousy when Marin gets too close to Kanda. There is also sibling rivalry on the human front, between two young musicians. Meanwhile, on the human front, a young instructor at the music school where Kanda also teaches, has his rock band get a gig- and all his bandmates don’t show up. Hardly a moment passes before the older musicians, including Kanda, get up from the audience and join him on stage, managing (to great acclaim) to play rock even though it’s not their normal genre. This is a breakthrough for Kanda’s PTSD induced stage fright. There is a lot more human stories in this volume than in the previous ones, but it’s still interesting.